Ramblings, a salve for any hurts

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corruption

Sometimes I wonder if they are there to protect us or to victimize us. I don’t know about other countries, but in Malaysia, the police is almost a synonym for corruption. Of course, there will be some who are really good and upright men but they are few and far in between.

Don’t get me wrong, I am not against the police nor am I saying it is better to abolish the police force. What I am thinking is that the system is too old to be really efficient these days. I know that there have been upgrades and training and whatnot, but are they true changes or only cosmetic changes? Police brutality in Malaysia had make the headlines recently, with one death in custody confirmed due to beatings and torture as well as at least three suspected of the same.

Even on the international news reports of police shooting dead civilians are frequent. It makes me wonder: Is the training of the police sufficient, adequate and suitable? If it is, what went wrong that it seems to have become a trend for the police to kill?

Don’t even start on corruption! Even my own relatives say that traffic cops are just a bunch of corrupted SOBs. If one is pulled over by traffic cops due to any number of traffic violations, all one has to do to avoid a write-up is to present RM20-RM50 in the form of money folded within handshake. The traffic cops are also known as ‘potatoes’ due to their action in staying in one place to ostensibly direct traffic but in reality obstructing it. More than once have I been on a road that ought to be clear but was jammed due to the bumbling of the officer in charge. They also chose the darkest and loneliest paths to spring their roadblocks, but never in well-lit roads near housing estates to keep crime down.

So I ask: What is the purpose of the police today? To protect or to victimize?